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Even if you haven’t heard of Great Comet, you’ve most likely heard of Leo Tolstoy’s sprawling novel War and Peace. Published in 1869, the story follows a wide cast of characters against the backdrop of Napoleon’s invasions of Russia, intermixed with Tolstoy’s personal musings on war and history (and it’s not nearly as difficult of a read as it’s made out to be). Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 is a sung-through musical that made its Broadway debut in 2016. Written and composed by Dave Malloy and directed by Rachel Chavkin (who would go on to win a Tony for her direction of Hadestown), the musical is based on a seventy-page segment of Tolstoy’s novel. It follows the young Natasha as the charming Anatole tempts her away from her engagement to Andrey, who is away fighting in the war, and Pierre, who is in a spiritual and personal crisis.
The musical is not quite what one might expect from an adaptation of Tolstoy. The music is unique, influenced by rock, and sometimes downright bizarre. While the main cast wore period costumes, the ensemble was clad in a modern punk style. The staging itself was also highly innovative, with minimal set design and some audience members sitting in sections on the stage. The action happened all around the audience, and cast members would interact with audience members, sometimes giving a kiss on the cheek or a high five. All in all, it was unusual staging for a Broadway musical, especially one adapted from a nineteenth-century novel.
But despite these seeming incongruities, Great Comet is, in fact, a perfect adaptation of War and Peace, thanks to its grasp of the soul of the text and its understanding and love for the characters. Just as musicals adapted from movies cannot stick rigidly close to the original film and hope to be successful, the same principle applies here. Rather than attempt to exactly replicate scenes from the book, Great Comet conveys the heart and message of the book’s plot in a fresh way. The full spirit, vivacity, and compassion for humanity that permeate the novel are resplendent in the show.
War And Peace: Richness And Realism
To understand Great Comet and how it adapts War and Peace, it’s important to know a bit about Tolstoy’s novel itself. While the book is known for its formidable length, it is the cast of carefully drawn, deeply human characters and the way their stories interweave that is the heart of the novel. Great Comet is based on a small segment of the novel that largely focuses on Natasha Rostov’s growing attachment to the scoundrel Anatole, who doesn’t know and doesn’t care how damaging his habit of seducing and abandoning young women is. Meanwhile, the confused, socially inept, but deeply sincere Pierre Bezukhov struggles with his unhappy marriage to Helene, Anatole’s sister, who makes no effort to hide the fact that she considers him a fool and is regularly cheating on him. He is also battling his own spiritual confusion, which mirrors what Tolstoy himself experienced, and does not know how to handle the sudden wealth he has come into after his father’s death. Nearly all of society mock him.
After Natasha’s disastrous failed elopement with Anatole comes to light, Pierre, as an old friend of the Rostov family, steps in to comfort her. In doing so, he begins to emerge from his crisis, finding a spark of hope in his compassion for Natasha, despite her having severed her engagement with his good friend Andrey. His heart “blossom[s] into new life” as he witnesses the great comet of 1812 shooting overhead afterward, as Part Eight of the novel concludes.
Great Comet: A Musical Masterpiece
The theater in which Great Comet was performed was significantly renovated to allow for the immersive seating and give the audience the illusion of being in a nineteenth-century Russian supper club. This staging was the perfect choice for this adaptation since Tolstoy’s novel portrays not just characters or plot events but a world and a country. The sheer number of characters and the way their stories interweave gives the reader the sense that they are a part of the book’s world. The staging of Great Comet brings this aspect of the book to life by allowing the audience to be truly immersed in the action and occasionally participate. Every other aspect of the show came together as well. The performers were, without exception, vivacious, dedicated, and wholly suited to their characters. And the soundtrack, while unconventional, was ideal.
Songs
The songs in Great Comet frequently use narration, sometimes having a character sing about themselves in the third person. The clearest example of this is in the “Prologue,” the first song of the show, in which each character introduces themself and their primary character trait gets repeated each verse in the fashion of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” For example, Natasha sings, “Natasha is young/She loves Andrey with all her heart,” and the whole cast repeats, “She loves Andrey with all her heart/Natasha is young and Andrey isn’t here.” Next, Natasha’s cousin Sonya sings, “Sonya is good/Natasha’s cousin and closest friend.” The cast repeats “Natasha’s cousin and closest friend/Sonya is good, Natasha is young, and Andrey isn’t here,” and the song continues in the same way.
Other songs use even more blatant narration, as in the song “Pierre and Anatole,” in which Pierre sings, “My face, already pale, becomes distorted by fury/I seize you by the collar with my big, big hands/And I shake you from side to side/Until your face shows a sufficient degree of terror” before continuing to sing in character directly to Anatole. Very few of the songs rhyme at all. The music itself is eclectic and strange, with electronic instrumentals and a mix of Russian folk and classic rock influences. One song in particular, “The Opera,” has a segment that showcases the opera the characters are viewing. This segment is replete with bizarre vocalizations to convey Tolstoy’s distaste for the strange affectations of opera. Other numbers are simply filled with joy and energy, always infused with a Russian influence.
Why does this work better than a more traditional, classical musical theatre style, which might at first appear better suited to an adaptation of a classic realist novel? For one thing, the non-rhyming, narrative song style allows for many lines to be directly taken or adapted from the text of War and Peace. For example, the second song of the show, “Pierre,” involves Pierre introducing himself and being introduced by the rest of the cast. He is described by the cast as “Our merry feasting crank/Our most dear, most kind, most smart and eccentric, a warm-hearted Russian of the old school,” while War and Peace contains the line, “For Moscow society, Pierre was the nicest, kindest, most intellectual, merriest, and most magnanimous of cranks, a heedless, genial nobleman of the old Russian type.” Many other lyrics are adapted in a similar vein. This allows for the flavor of Tolstoy’s particular style to come through in the show in a way that more traditional songs might not. The musical is almost like stepping into the book itself, rather than watching a movie version.
Balaga
No song better exemplifies the spirit of War and Peace, with Tolstoy’s meticulous attention to and love for even the most minor of characters, than Balaga, which comes near the middle of Act Two. Balaga is the “famous troika driver,” who appears during only one scene in the novel, but whom Tolstoy spends several paragraphs describing. Balaga likes to drive Anatole and his friend Dolokhov around and dashes madly through the streets, making no allowances for any obstacles. Tolstoy states that “More than once” Balaga has taken Anatole and Dolokhov to Moscow from Tver and back in one night, and repeats “more than once” at the beginning of the next few sentences, and “more than once” is also repeated in the song “Balaga.” Tolstoy’s enjoyment of Balaga is clear from his lengthy description of such a minor character and the comedy rife within that description, as when he mentions that Balaga considers Anatole and Dolokhov, who like to drink and carouse, “real gentlemen.”
Great Comet could easily have left Balaga out, but the creators’ decision to include him speaks to their dedication to and love for War and Peace and all its characters. The show revels in Balaga, letting him sing about “driving mad at twelve miles an hour” and “risking skin and life twenty times a year” for his “fine, fine gentlemen.” Most of the lines in this song, as with others, are taken directly from the book. “Balaga” is an exuberant and joyful part of Great Comet, especially because it is “just for fun,” which is how Balaga introduces himself in the “Prologue.” The attention given to smaller details of the novel like this allow Great Comet to truly capture the book’s spirit.
Characters And Actors
The portrayals of the characters are spot on, as they magnify the most important traits of each character on stage. Natasha, portrayed on Broadway by Denée Benton, is bubbly and naïve but packs a strong emotional punch at the end as Pierre consoles her over her failed elopement. Anatole, played by Lucas Steele, is charming while still being detestable. Sonya, played by Brittain Ashford, is a standout. In the novel, she is mostly relegated to the sidelines due to her yielding personality and lack of family connections, but it is clear she has a good heart and deep loyalty to her cousin Natasha. Great Comet gives her a solo, “Sonya Alone,” which highlights her self-sacrificing nature and her goodness. Above all, Pierre, sometimes played by writer Dave Malloy and originated on Broadway by Josh Groban, is both pitiable and admirable, bumbling and powerful. Above all, he is a truly good man, and his portrayal does justice to a character so heavily based on Tolstoy himself.
Oh, Pierre
In the song “Pierre,” the ensemble repeatedly sings “Oh, Pierre” in a mocking, condescending tone at the beginning of the refrain. A slowed-down version of the same melody comes during the song “Pierre and Natasha,” after Pierre has just told Natasha that despite her mistake with Anatole, she is still worthy of love and respect and that if he were able and worthy, he would propose to her immediately. Natasha, who up until now has been devastated and inconsolable, touches his face and sings “Oh, Pierre” in a loving, affectionate, and grateful way before singing, “I leave the room smiling.” The echo of the line from “Pierre” illustrates that someone has at last seen Pierre for something other than a buffoon or someone to be pitied. Great Comet gives Pierre the dignity and depth he is given in the novel and adds an extra layer of poignancy with this line.
Happiness, Freedom, And Life
In short, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 demonstrates a thorough understanding of and love for Tolstoy’s characters and story. During the song “The Abduction,” a drunken Pierre sings, “Here’s to happiness, freedom, and life!” No one line of the show better exemplifies Great Comet‘s approach to the novel. War and Peace is about happiness and how its characters try to find it, freedom and what that truly means, and above all, life in all its complexities and strangeness.
The last song of the musical, titled “The Great Comet of 1812,” is absolutely magical and caps off the show brilliantly. Once again, taking most of its lyrics from the book, the song describes Pierre’s newfound hope and appreciation for life upon witnessing the comet, which is “said to portend untold horrors and the end of the world.” But for Pierre, “the comet brings no fear.” Just as Part Eight of War and Peace ends, Great Comet ends with Pierre’s heart “blossoming into a new life.” Great Comet is just that: a new life for Tolstoy’s celebrated novel and beloved characters, an iteration which encapsulates them better than any previous attempt. Though it closed on Broadway, Great Comet will continue to shine and will hopefully inspire people to read War and Peace, a novel that, despite its fearsome reputation, is truly about life and joy.